Rolling mill entry guides



May 27, 19 9 I G. A. CAKES ETAL ROLLING MILL ENTRY GUIDES Filed Jan. 20, 1967 I3 2 FIG. I

gamut DUDE! 25 585% Zinc: DEJEIEI H 26' FIG. 3

4 INVENTORS VINCENT B. CETR N a BY GRANT A. OAK

ATTORNE United States Patent 3,446,052 ROLLING MILL ENTRY GUIDES Grant A. Oakes, RD. 4, Cortland, Ohio 44410, and

Vincent B. Cetrone, 8569 Sleepy Hollow Drive, Warren, Ohio 44484 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 577,516,

Sept. 6, 1966. This application Jan. 20, 1967, Ser.

Int. Cl. B21b 39/20; B2ld 43/16 U.S. Cl. 72-250 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Rolling mill entry guides including support members,

positioned above and below the pass line of the rolling mill and supporting body members having replaceable oppositely disposed wearing surface portions formed of plastic material. This application is a continuation-in-part of our application Ser. No. 577,516 filed Sept. 6, 1966, entitled, Rolling Mill Entry Guides.

boards are sometimes called wiping boards, and generally comprise wooden units three to five inches thick, approximately three feet long and approximately ten inches in width. A plurality of these wiping boards are positioned in side-by-side relation immediately above and below the strip and in front of the work rolls of the rolling mill. The boards generally protect the steel strip which is running through the rolling mill and they have a relatively short life. A typical cold strip mill will use 3,000 such wooden wiping boards in a month at a cost of about $3 per board. It is accordingly necessary to shut the mill down frequently and replace the wiping boards, and a considerable expense is thus incurred along with a considerable loss of tonnage which would otherwise be capable of being handled on the rolling mill. Additionally, the wooden wiping boards heretofore used frequently marked the steel strip by reason of the presence of gouged pieces of wood, splinters or oil or other material which soaked into the Wood and are then transferred to the steel strip. Such marking of the steel strip is obviously objectionable and results in loss of desired surface finish and quality.

The present invention relates to an improvement in these wiping boards which overcomes much of the difficulty heretofore common in connection with the wooden wiping boards as hereinbefore set forth. Specifically, the present invention relates to the formation of the wiping boards with wearing surface portions formed of a suitable plastic material which may include the acetol resins, the polyolefins and the polyamides. The various plastic materials that are suitable for the construction of the wearing surf-aces of the wiping boards may be molded and thus conveniently and economically formed into desired shapes. Additionally, additives may be employed such as graphite and molybdenum sulfate.

The principal object of the invention is therefore the provision of an assembled wiping board for a rolling mill wherein the wiping board takes the form of a main body member and a wearing surface portion formed of a suitable plastic material which is non-hydroscopic, and therefore avoids loading with water or oils which would be transferred to the steel strip guided thereby and which avoids a rough grain or other irregular surface which would catch scale and then mark the strip undesirably.

Additionally, the plastic wiping boards have a life at least three times as long as the wooden boards. They weigh substantially less and the wearing surface portions are arranged for easy and rapid replacement.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being the intention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for the purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view showing a wiping board installation in front of the work rolls of a rolling mill.

FIGURE 2 is a cross section on line 2-2 of FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view on line 3-3 of FIG- URE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the wearing surface portion of one of the wiping boards seen in FIG- URES 1 and 2.

By referring to the drawings, and FIGURES 1 and 3 in particular, it will be observed that a rolling mill stand is partially disclosed including a frame 10, a pair of superimposed work rolls 11 and 12 and a pair of back up rolls 13 and 14, all as known in the art. A construction for guiding the entry of steel strip into the work rolls 11 and 12 is positioned in front of the same and comprises a horizontal support 15 positioned above the pass line of the rolling mill and a secondary horizontal support 16 positioned below the pass line of the rolling mill. The horizontal support 15 has a plurality of mechanical clamps 17 adjustably mounted on its forward edge by means of bolts or similar fasteners 18. The clamps 17 extend below the horizontal support 15 and are inturned relative thereto so as to operatively engage and support body members 19, the rearmost ends of which are provided with an angular shoulder transversely thereof, as indicated by the numeral 20, and engaged on a downturned and inturned flange 21 on the horizontal support 15, and located immediately forward of the work roll 11. Each of the body members 19 has a tapered lower front edge 22 and a depending hook-like flange 23 on its opposite end, adapting it to receive and retain a plastic wearing surface portion 24, the lower horizontal surface of which defines the upper surface of the pass line through the rolling mill. Each of the wearing surface portions 24 has one or more longitudinally extending dovetailed shaped ribs 25 on its uppermost surface, and which ribs 25 extend from the forward or right end thereof, as seen in FIGURES 2 and 4 of the drawings, to a point inwardly from the opposite or rear end thereof, the left as seen in FIGURES 2 and 4 of the drawings. These dovetailed ribs register in dovetailed slots 26 formed in the body members 19 and terminating inwardly from the rear end thereof. It will thus be seen that the wearing surface portions 24 are relatively small in cross section and may therefore be formed inexpensively and at the same time they may be easily installed and quickly removed by simply sliding them into position with their dovetailed ribs 25 engaged in the dovetailed grooves 26 and thus form easily renewable wearing surfaces immediately above the pass line. In FIGURE 2 of the drawings a section of continuous strip S is shown disposed on the pass line and engaged between the work rolls 11 and 12.

The body members 19 may be solid or they may be cored out, as seen in the drawing, and wherein the hollow cores carry the reference numerals 26. It will thus be seen that the lower fiat surface of the wearing surface portions 24 form a desirable horizontally disposed guide for the strip S leading substantially into the bite of the Work rolls 11 and 12.

The lower surface of the pass line on which strip S is shown is formed by inverted plastic wearing surface portions 24 positioned on inverted body members 19, which are in turn positioned on the secondary horizontal support 16 and secured thereto.

It will thus be seen that the plastic wearing surface portions 24 define the upper and lower surfaces respectively of the entry guide for the rolling mill, and that a steel strip passing continuously therethrough is guided thereby and lightly engaged by the opposed surfaces of these plastic wearing surface portions 24. It will occur to those skilled in the art that the plastic wearing surface portions 24 in addition to having a life expectancy at least three times that of the wooden wiping boards heretofore used, have certain other advantages as they will not buckle or alter their shape and thereby adversely affect the strip running therebetween, nor will they contribute to the contamination or marking of the surface thereof, as occurs with wooden wiping boards due to the rough grain and the catching of scale therein and the absorption of water, oil and other materials which are then transferred to the steel strip running therethrough.

A further distinct advantage of the present invention is the saving of downtime of the mill when eventual wear makes the replacement of the plastic wearing surface portions 24 necessary. It is only necessary that the worn members he simply slid out of place, new ones slid in and the mill is again ready for operation. No adjusting as by installing shims or repositioning of the clamps, etc., is necessary as the plastic wearing surface portions 24 are always uniform and always slide into position quickly and easily.

It will thus be seen that improved entry guides for rolling mills in the form of two part plastic wiping boards has been disclosed and that the same meet the several objects of the invention and having thus described our invention, what we claim is:

1. Entry guides and wiping members for a moving strip at the entry end of a rolling mill, comprising a top guide assembly and a bottom guide assembly, said top and bottom guide assemblies consisting of horizontally disposed support members and plural elongated relatively thin, oppositely disposed plastic wearing surface portions secured to said horizontal support members in relatively closely spaced relation and extending from said entry end forwardly, and defining a path for said moving strip at said entry end of said rolling mill, said plastic wearing surface portions and said horizontal support members having longitudinally and forwardly extending matching slidably interengaging and interlocking configurations detachably connecting said plastic wearing surface portions and said horizontal support members, said horizontal support members having transverse stops at said entry end coacting with said interlocking configurations of said plastic wearing surface portions to limit their sliding movement toward said entry end.

2. The entry guides and wiping members set forth in claim 1, and wherein said plastic wearing surface portions are formed of a non-hydroscopic plastic of a group including acetol resins, polyolefins and polyamides, and characterized by their even wearing and long life qualities.

3. The entry guides and plastic wiping members set forth in claim 1, and wherein said plastic wearing surface portions are formed of a synthetic resin incorporating additives from the group including graphite and molybdenum sulfate.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,385,338 7/1921 Robbins 72-250 X 2,083,660 6/1937 Nyberg 72-252 X 2,890,609 6/ 1959 McCatfrey -51 3,058,376 10/1962 Fry 72-250 3,071,032 1/ 1963 Teplitz 72-250 3,144,919 8/1964 Foote 308-3 X FOREIGN PATENTS 389,306 3/1933 Great Britain. 987,009 12/1947 France.

RICHARD J. HERBST, Primary Examiner.

E. SUTTON, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 72-428 

